After winning Podcast of the Year and Best Podcast Producer (Audio) for Darcy Thomson at the Australian Commercial Radio & Audio Awards (ACRAs) last week LiSTNR’s Disclosed: The Children in the Pictures continues to win acclaim here and abroad.
The podcast follows Taskforce Argos, a team of Australian detectives who infiltrate global criminal organisations like The Love Zone (TLZ), a child exploitation network operating in the dark web, rescuing children from online sexual abuse and offering advice to combat it.
The Children in the Pictures received silver in the True Crime Category at The Signal Awards in New York, awards that honour and celebrate people and content that raises the bar for podcasting, and was shortlisted in the Australian Walkley Awards for Audio Long (over 20 minutes).
The podcast was recognised earlier this year with a Gold at the New York Radio Festival Awards for best narrative documentary, Best Documentary at the Radio Today Podcast Awards in July and was as a finalist in the 2023 Kennedy Awards in Audio Journalism: Outstanding Podcast.
Disclosed: The Children in the Pictures was the first release from the Factual podcast team at LiSTNR and led by Executive Producers Emma Lancaster and Belinda Lopez.
Lopez said:
“The production of the series was demanding due to access challenges, the disturbing nature of the content and legal hurdles. The final product is robust in its journalism, careful in its handling of disturbing material, victim-focused and trauma-informed. The result is an eminently bingeable series for parents and true crime listeners.
Law enforcement officials in Australia and internationally are using the podcast as a training resource, the Australian e-Safety Commissioner has also acknowledged the podcast’s contribution to creating awareness about a deeply misunderstood and generally avoided topic.
We want to sound the alarm on this issue – protecting our kids takes a global village.”
Lancaster added:
“To tell this story, the LiSTNR team went to great lengths. We went to court to request the removal of a longstanding suppression order that gagged the media from speaking about the specifics of this case. DNX Media, our collaborating producers, secured special judicial approval to release the police interviews with the Australian kingpin running the TLZ site. Taskforce Argos also gave remarkable access to key evidence from its investigations.”
ABOUT DISCLOSED: THE CHILDREN IN THE PICTURES
- The podcast series takes listeners inside Taskforce Argos, a team of Australia’s best detectives dedicated to infiltrating global criminal networks and rescuing children from online sexual abuse.
- The unit is a branch of the Queensland Police Service, responsible for the investigation of online child exploitation and abuse.
- Taskforce Argos is named after a character in Greek mythology called Argos Panoptes. It means “all-seeing”. Argos was a giant guard, with eyes all over his body and head.
- Taskforce Argos investigators have one of the most challenging jobs in the world. One of their investigators has saved approximately 1,600 children from abuse during their career.
- The series has been downloaded and shared by hundreds of thousands worldwide. The series quickly shot up to become the #1 Spotify True Crime podcast in Australia in the same month of its launch and was featured in Apple’s Best Shows of 2022, in the ‘Shows that Gripped and Thrilled Us’ category.
- Disclosed: The Children in the Pictures deals with confronting issues involving abuse against children. Listener discretion is advised. If you or anyone you know needs help please contact:
Lifeline on 13 11 14
Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467